Unloading system



July 18, 1933. V

s. GREIIEYN UNLOADIRG SYSTEM Filed firml 2s,

60.5 (bomber 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

A TTORNEYS.

July 18, 1933. s. GREEN 1,918,330

UNLOADING SYSTEM Filed July 28, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I INVENTOR.

r t I j'f/[PWOU 'zfiw P ATTORNEYS.

Patented July 18, 1933 UNlTEDgS-TATES PATENT OFFICE Application filedJuly 28;

, -My invention relates to unloading systems and more particularly itrelates to a method and apparatus for unloading cotton, grain or othermaterials while simultaneously subj ecting the same to the atmosphere ofa treatinggas. V

In drying, bleaching and sterilizing cotton, grain, and the like, it hasbeen common to use gases for effecting the desired treatment andpneumatic conveyors have been commonly utilized for unloading and fordelivering thematerial to be treated to the treating chamber. 'In suchsystems it has been the usual practice to provide a conduit throughwhich the material is drawn by air suction to a point near the entranceof the treating chamber, at which point the material and the excess airin the suction conduit are separated, part of the air being expelledinto the atmosphere, and the material and the remaining air beingintroduced 'into the treating chamber together with a stream of thegases to be used forftreating the material. The use of separate conduitsfor delivering the material to the chamber and for directing thetreating gases to the chamber necessitated the use of at least twoseparate blowers or suction fans and also necessitated the use ofas'eparator forseparating thematerial and the air, so that the gases inthe treating chamber would not be unduly diluted with the air used toconvey the material to be treated. c I g It is oneobject of my inventionto devise a treating system utilizing pneumatic conveying means in whichless apparatus is used than is required in prior systems foraccomplishing similar results.

Another object is to' devisea treating system in which the treatinggases are used as a medium for carryingthematerial to be treated to thetreating chamber.

Another object is to devise a treating system of the character describedin which undesired dilution of the treating gases by air is minimized,any desired. dilution being under accurate control, thereby insuringmore uniform results in the treated material. Y

Another object is to simplify the appa- 1931. Serial No. 553,595.

ratus required in-a system of the character described, thereby reducingthe cost of in cost of maintenance stallation as well as the andoperation.

These andother objectsand advantages are attained in the embodiments ofmy invention illustrated in the" accompanying drawings, in'which V Fig.1 is a view of a cotton" treating system utilizing apparatusembodyingcertain principles of my invention, parts of tem being showndiagrammatically. v v

F 1g. 2 18 an elevatlonal view on an enlarged scale, partly in section,showing the the sysportion of the system'illustrated in' Fig. 1

cotton conveyor and in the, gas conduit are versal joints andconcentrictelescopic joints. I

In the preferred form of my invention 5 pneumatic conveying means is'provided'for removing the material to be treated from a bin, from awagon, or from the holdbf a ship and for conveying the same to a treat-.ing chamber. cessity of separating thematerial from the conveying mediumprior to discharging the material into the treating chamber, I. preferto utilize as the conveying medium the gas which is tobe used, intheactual treatment of the material, The gas thus used can be heated air ora bleaching or a sterilizing gas or any one or more of the gaseousconstituents of a gaseous mixture to be used in the treatment of thematerial. ent a single suction fan or a single blower can be utilized toconduct both the material and thetreating gases to the treating chamberand it is not necessary, as in prior systems, to utilize two' separatesources 0 power, one forconveying the material and one for directing thetreating gases. Also, no separator is required for separating thematerial from the carrying medium, since, the carrying medium is to beused in the In order to eliminate the ne- 80 By this expeditreatment ofthe material and can enter the treating chamber with the material.Preferably, the treating gas to be used as the carrying medium for thematerial enters the pneumatic conveyor at the same point that thematerial enters and for accomplishing this object means is provided'forsurrounding the inlet-end of the conveyor with an atmosphere of thetreating gas. It is de sirable that the inlet end of the conveyor bemade capable of movements vertically and horizontally so that it can bedirected adjacent all parts of the mass of material toLbe conveyed tothe treating chamber and in order that the atmosphere of the treatinggas can be made to follow the movements of the inlet of theconveyor,'the gas conduit can be made to have corresponding freedom ofmovement. If desired, the treating chamber can be dispensed with whenthe treat ment aiforded during the con eying of the material issufficient. The invention will be described with particularreference toa sys tem for treating cotton, butit is to be understood that theinventioon is equally applica ble to th'e'treatment of various othermaterials.

Referring now to the drawings and first to Fig, 1 thereof, I have. shownd1agraminat cally a .cotton treating cl1a1'nber;1.6

adapted to subject the cotton to anyone of a number of differentgaseoustreatments. For example, heated air may .be employed in the chamber fordrying the 'cotton and expelling moisture therefrom or a suitablebleaching gas. or a sterilizing gas or a combination of gases can beemployech-asmay bedesired. The chamber 16 can be stationary orrotatable, but since the details of construction of the treating chamberdonot form an essential part of the present invening gases.

tion, they will not be described in detail.-

In prior systems the cotton to betreated was elevated to a. point abovethe. inlet end 17 of the chamber and was allowed to drop into a streamof the treating gas entering the chamber. Different quantities of airwere" drawn into the chamber un'derthis method, the quantity of airbeing determined by the operating conditions at any given instant;Sometimes, there-fore, the treatlng In Fig. l I have shown the end ofpneu-. matic conveyor 18 as being dlsposed within a wagon for unloadingthe cotton therein.

For enabling the end of the conveyor to be lifted above the sides of thewagon and to be lowered. into the mass of cotton, a telescopic joint canbe provided formed by an outer sleeve 22 slidably disposed about arelatively fixed tube 23. For precluding complete separation between themembers and also for making the joints more nearly air tight an outerband 24 can be mounted on the tube 21 which is adapted to abut against aband 26 secured to the inner side of the sleeve 22 when theparts are intheir 7 full extended 'pesition. For enabling lateral or side'movementsof the inlet end of the conveyor a universal oint 27, commonly I termeda hell, can be interposed between the tube 23 and the tube 28 leading tothe chamber 16. The bell or universal joint 27 Ican be convenientlymadeof canvas orother suitable flexible material. H 5 V A gas conduit'29extending from the fur? nace or gas storage'chamber showndiagrammatically at 31 serves to conduct the hot air.

the pneumatic conveyor. The gas conduit terminates in a jacket 33 whichis disposed about the tube 22 and is preferably concentrio therewith.The jacket 33 is open at its lower end, shown, and the gases conductedthroughthe conduit 29 aredirected through an annular passage defined bythe outside I of tube 22 and the inside of jacket 33 from whence theypass upwardly into the tube 22 and to the treating chamber. If desired,

the lower end of jacket 33 can extend beyond the lower end of the tube22, so that the gases will pass readily into the tube 22 when p i orother treating gas to the inlet end 32 of theopen end of the jacket isplaced adjacent a mass of cotton. 7 V, I

When the device is in operation the gas flows downwardly into contactwith the cotton and thenturns upwardly intothe tube 22 carrying with itthe cotton which is disposed adjacent the mouth 32 of the pneumaticconveyor. Placing of the. l'ower en-d of the. jacket 33 against a mass.of cotton serves to close the opening suflicie'ntly to complete thesuction line between. the con veyor l8 and the gas conduit. 29, so thatheatedair or other gas, as the case may be, is forciblydrawn from thefurnace orgas chamber 31. The jacket. 33 is provided with an end wall34-;which closes the upper end of the annular space fromv the atmosphereand suitable brackets 36 can be employed.

for spacing the jacket from the tube 222ml for strengthening thestructure.

To. make the jacketv 33 movable together with the. tube 22, a telescopicjoint 37 a-nda universalfljoint 38'can be. provided in. the

conduit 29 which permit movements correspending tow the movementsafforded by the gas.

the operation of the form shown in treating gas from the source ofsupply to the treating chamber is. in this manner employed to unload thecotton and convey the same through the treating chamber. If it isdesired to separate the treating gas and the cotton'at the fan 19,suitable means, such as those already known in this art, can be providedfor this purpose.

If desired, suitable means, such as adamper41 can be provided foradmitting air into the-gas conduit to obtain any desired amount of airdilution of the treating In Fig. 3 I- have shown a modification in whicha telescopic joint 42 in the pneumatic conveyor is arrangedconcentrically within a telescopic joint 43 of the gas conduit, therebyforming an annular gas passage between the telescopic sections. In thisembodiment the universal joints 44 and 46 of the pneumatic conveyor andthe gas conduit, respectively, can be disposed side by side as in theembodiment shown in Fig. 1.

In the modification shown in Fig. 4, not only the telescopicjoints42 and43 are concentric, but also the universal joints 47 and 48 oftheconveyorand of the gas conduit are arranged concentrically, thusproviding an'annular passage which extends from a point above theuniversal joints to the inlet end of the pneumatic conveyor. Theoperation of the embodiments illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4 is practicallyidentical with igs.

1 and 2.

If desired, the gas chamber and the treating chamber can be transposedso that the treating gas flows downwardly through the e inner-conduitand the material to be treat:

ed flows upwardly through the surrounding annular conduit. I

Reviewing brieflythe operation of the apparatus when used as illustratedin the system of Fig. 1, it will be noticed that the suction fan 19furnishes the power for unloading the cotton or other material from thewagon 39 or from a storage bin, for conveying the material through thetreating chamber 16 and for directing the treating gases from the sourceof supply to the treating chamber. It will be noticed also that thematerial is subjected to an atmosphere of the treating gases throughoutthe entire path of its travel, thus utilizing the time required for thematerial to passfrom the wagon to the treating chamber "in the actualtreatment of the material. "Also, more intimate intermingling of thetreating gases with the materialisaiforded than when the materialand thegases are introduced separately into the treating chamber, as in priorsystems. F requently, as'when the conveyoris long or when the desired"treatment can be accomplishedquickly, the treating chamber canbeieliminated from the system, the pneumatic conveyor by itselfaffording adequate treatment.

While I have shown and described certain preferred embodiments. of myinvention, I

do not wish to be limited thereto, since the invention'as defined in theappended claims can be embodied in a plurality ofv other forms.

I claim:

'1. Apparatus for unloading cotton comprising a pneumatic conveyor, atelescopic.

joint in said conveyor for enabling longitudinal adjustment of theconveyor, .a universal joint in the conveyor for enabling lateralpositioning of its inlet end, and a conduit for conducting treating gasto the cotton prior to its travel through the conveyor, a telescopicjointand anniversal duit to follow the movements of the inlet end ofsaid conveyor, the telescopic joint of v said conveyor being concentricwith the tel 3 f escopic joint of said conduit.

2. Apparatus for conveying cotton to a treating chamber comprising apneumatic conveyor, a telescopic joint in said conveyor for enablinglongitudinaladjustment of the conveyor, a universal joint inthe conveyorfor enabling lateral positioning of its inlet end, and a conduit forconducting treating 7 gas to the cotton prior to its travel through theconveyor, a telescopicjoint and .a universal joint in said conduit forenabling said conduit to follow the movements of the inlet end of saidconveyor, the telescopic joint of said conveyor being concentric withthe telescopic joint of said conduit and, like- Wire, the universaljoint of said'conveyor being concentric with the universal joint of saidconduit.

3. Apparatus of the character described comprising a pneumatic conveyor,a tele-- scopic joint in, said conveyor for enabling movement of itsinlet end, a conduit for,

conducting a gas into the inlet end of said conveyor, and a telescopicjoint in said con duit for enabling the conduit to follow the movementsof the inlet end of the conveyor, the telescopic joints in said conveyorand in said conduit being concentric.

4. Apparatus of the character described comprising a pne'umatlcconveyor, a uni-' versal joint in said conveyor for enabling movement ofits inlet end, a conduit for conjoint in said conduit for enabling'saidcon- 9 ductinga gas into the inlet end of said eonveyor, and a universaljoint in said conduit for enabling the conduit to follow the movementsof the inlet end of the conveyor, the 7 universal joints in saidconveyor and in said conduit being concentric.

5; Apparatus of the character described comprising a pneumatic conveyor,a tele- SOOPlCjOlDt and a universal oint in said conveyor for enablinglongitudinal and lateral SHERWOOD GREEN.

